Bob Cassell, Messenger
Once the demands of God’s righteousness and justice have been satisfied by the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ, and an individual has received Him as Savior, it is then that the grace of God becomes sovereign in the life of that individual. From that very moment and throughout eternity, God deals with that person exclusively on the basis of His amazing grace. Since grace is the expression of God’s infinite righteousness and justice, the believer becomes the object of His super surpassing love. When a believer has been reconciled, justified, and made righteous by God there is nothing that can separate that individual from His amazing, and everlasting love.
Notice Paul’s declaration in Romans: “Who shall separate us from the Love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? …For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 8:35, 38-39).
There is no greater description of the omnipotence of God than this amazing statement. Those who are the redeemed are without equivocation the object of God’s great love and the recipients of His amazing power. Therefore, God deals with them on the sole basis of His amazing grace. His grace equates to … all that God is free to do for you on the sole basis of the accomplishments of Jesus Christ on the Cross.
There is no wrath of God at any time upon those who have received Jesus Christ as Savior. However, His wrath will righteously abide upon those who end their lives in unbelief. His judgment will be executed upon them because of their unbelief and will assure their fatal entrance into Hell.
“He that believes on the Son has everlasting life: and he that believes not on the Son shall not see life: but the wrath of God abides on him” (John 3:36).
The believer looks to an exclusive Savior who took the final death blow that was owed because of sin and unbelief and will escape all of the condemnation of God that abides on it.
“He that believes on Him (Jesus) is not condemned; but he that believes not is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God” (John3:18).
God’s love for the world was revealed in the gracious gift of His unique and perfect Son. To those who receive His Son, God’s amazing love will supply all they will need to fulfill His purposes under every circumstance in life.
“He that spared not His Son but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things?” (Romans 8:32).
Another provision of God for the believer is that He exercises, on their behalf, His wonderful omnipotence. The believer in Christ is not left alone to execute God’s plan. Many supportive believers and unseen angelic messengers intercede on behalf of the needy saints of God, that they might know … “what is the exceeding greatness of his power toward those who believe according to the working of his mighty power” (Ephesians 1:19).
He then describes the great power that God exercises on their behalf. It is the same power by “which He wrought in Christ, when He raised Him from the dead and set Him at His own right hand in heavenly places far above all principality, and power, and might, and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come: and has put all things under His feet, and gave Him to be the head over all things to the church, which is His body, the fullness of Him that fills all in all” (Eph.1:20-23).
To even contemplate that God’s great power is available to be exercised on behalf of every believer is staggering to the imagination. God’s saving and keeping power guarantees the full accomplishment of His gracious purpose in securing and preserving our so great salvation.
His power, and not our own on our best day, guarantees the accomplishment of His plan and purposes in His so great salvation. By means of His great love God freely gives all things for those who are in Christ and purifies from those things which are discordant with Him.
Because His unsurpassed power is constantly provided on our behalf, there is, by the amazing grace of God, a perfect provision for all who are in His Royal Family. When it is clearly declared in His word that salvation is entirely of Him, by Him, and through Him, it will not fail because… “it is by grace to the end that the promise might be sure” (Romans 4:16).
When the certainty of salvation is contemplated, how can fallen, sinful, and helpless humans believe they can contribute anything that will be accepted by God as payment for that which He has freely given and purchased with his own blood?
To the dismay of many it is not a matter of surrendering the life or the heart to God or even yielding this sewer laden organ to Him. Yielding to God occurs when the life of the believer is aligned to God’s plan, and all sins are confessed so that fellowship is restored, and the walk is controlled by means of the filling of God the Holy Spirit. Being in fellowship with Him is connected to sanctification but is not in any way a condition of receiving eternal life. If this were true, salvation would be by means of the works of a well-meaning but weak, imperfect, and misaligned human being.
Please do not misunderstand; there is a surrender that must be made in order to secure salvation, and that is a real and necessary surrender of any and all dependence on self-efforts and human righteousness as the means of securing salvation.
The essence of sin is an individual’s desire to depend upon self and become independent of God. Every effort to do something for Salvation becomes a pernicious and damning sin which will hinder a person from becoming a believing member of the Royal Family of God. To possess eternal life, one must completely and exclusively depend upon the Lord Jesus Christ.
The most difficult lesson for any human being to learn is that nothing whatsoever will be accepted by God that will add to his saving and finished work which was wrought by the perfect person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Who is it that saves? Is it by means of man in any sense? Emphatically no! Man is hopelessly lost, dead, undone and cannot help himself any more than a dead man can exert futile efforts to secure or maintain a dead life. Notice! Who has saved us and called us? It is Jesus Christ…
“Who has saved us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace” (2 Timothy 1:9).
Notice further, His salvation is and always will be, “Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us” (Titus 3:5).
This infallible scripture excludes as a means of salvation all that may be called human works, such as obedience to the Ten Commandments, living by the golden rule, joining a church or any charitable organization, including and participating in social or benevolent work. All functional efforts from humanity to merit salvation such as prayer, fasting, penance, self-denial, and baptism are excluded! These things may have some measure of human value, but they contribute nothing whatsoever as the means of obtaining salvation.
Entrance into Heaven does not include man’s best efforts in putting away daily sins. This privilege is reserved for those who are saved and by His grace justified. These saved individuals have been forgiven by the finished work of Christ but must confess any overt or covert sin that comes into their lives. Such does not procure redemption but does restore them to fellowship by the confession of sins per 1 John 1:9.
God’s free gift of salvation cannot be received by means of human works for then it would not be by God’s sovereign grace alone. Notice:
“And if by grace, then is it no more of works: otherwise, grace is no more grace. But if it be of works, then is it no more grace: otherwise, work is no more work” (Romans 11:6).
“Now to him that works is the reward not reckoned of grace, but of debt” (Romans 4:4).
In the end, “That no flesh should glory in His presence” (1 Corinthians 1:29).
This profound and God wrought truth nullifies all stories about people coming to the pearly gates and being quizzed by St. Peter regarding the sufficiency of the good they have produced to gain entrance. This is one place where none will glory in their own achievements no matter how recognized, consistent, or significant.
Salvation is the gift of God to those who believe on Christ and must of necessity be a gift for it to be accomplished by grace. No merit from anyone will be accepted by God because that which may be given on any condition of merit or goodness is not a true gift but a reward. Salvation is not in the slightest degree a reward given by God for good conduct or anyone’s best performance. Is it not clear… the word of God declares, in no uncertain terms, that no one can enter heaven because of the good they have done.
Salvation is by grace and is a free gift from God. It is in no way because of any good or meritorious behavior that emanates from vacillating human beings. Therefore, it is evident that human efforts are useless, and every individual is left only to depend upon and simply trust God to perform what he said he will do. To trust him is to accept that which He freely gives without merit or cost. This is precisely what the words “through faith” mean.
Effectual faith in God is counting him able and fully sufficient to meet every human need and to do that which may seem impossible. Abraham is a prime example of a warrior who lived by faith. He was fully persuaded that, what God had promised, he was able to perform (Romans 4: 20, 21). Abraham did not stumble by putting apparent impossible circumstances between God and himself but rather depended upon Him to overcome that which appeared utterly impossible.
This kind of dependence is the meaning of true faith, and it is evident that faith is opposed to human reasoning. Human contemplations consider circumstances and human judgements instead of a dependence upon the work and promises of an omnipotent and infinite God.
In closing, it is evident that faith is not the result of works produced from anyone! In fact, it is ceasing from work in order to trust God to do what he has promised. By means of faith, individuals must cease from their own works and depend upon God. “It is of faith that it might be by grace” (Romans 4:16).
If the slightest degree of merit could be exacted from faith, it could not be a means through which grace could or would flow. Faith excludes any hint of merit and actually includes utter helplessness. Trusting faith calls for a dependence upon an outside source to do what an individual is unable to do for himself.
For example, if someone is near death, it is normal to contact a physician. In so doing their limitations are acknowledged, and they place confidence in the doctor. There is no merit in contacting the doctor. Their call to him only provides an opportunity for the doctor to exercise the best of his training and skills.
Likewise, to believe in God’s promises for any exigency or difficult circumstance is to exercise faith and trust in his promises. He will do what he has said he will do… your charge is to trust him fully with no doubts or hesitation. It is the believer’s responsibility to extract the promises, stand on them, and know that the very character of God stands behind every promise. True faith is void of doubts and lays hold on the sure promises of God. To exercise real faith is to truly believe the many promises that are in the word of God. They are there, waiting to be claimed, and you may stand on them as though God’s promises are your last and only hope! They may be… what have you got to lose?
Do you recognize the great option that is available for you? That option is to recognize your own absolute hopelessness and the sufficiency and sureness of God’s ability to provide for you. Make His specific promises the object of your faith. Claim them and rest in what God will do!
There is no power in a faith that attempts to contribute to salvation or that hopes to work miracles. Saving power, deliverance, and divine operating assets come from God! He is a personal God and is waiting for you to truly believe him to be the very one who stands behind each of his great promises. Saving power and all sufficiency come from God. You do not have a need or a problem that he has not already supplied. There is nothing in existence that is greater than God’s ability to overcome. His promises are designed for the time you are in, and that time is now!
No promise can or will need to be claimed in eternity. All that he has designed for you in time will be fulfilled in time, and the time to believe his promises is today.
“Today if you will hear His voice, do not harden your hearts as when they provoked Me” (Hebrews 3:15).
“Call upon Him and He will answer you and show you great and mighty things which you know not” (Jeremiah 33:3).
“For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved” (Romans 10:13).
